Feeble minded or Depressed

In Israel, the Palestinians believe that: 1) its their land and the Jews have no right to be there, certainly no right to sovereignty, and 2) at minimum, they are eventually going to defeat Jewish sovereignty and perhaps kick out the Jews or kill them.  

In America, where I am a citizen, I don't worry that an Algonquin is going to come down the street and knife me.  The Algonquin no doubt believe that the land I live on belongs to them, but they don't believe they are going to be able to reconquer or take back America from the descendants of the Europeans who, hundreds of years before my ancestors arrived on these shores, came and thru a combination of disease and genocidal threats, and genocide itself, took over the land that used to belong to their ancestors.  

It is physically greater to be an American than almost anything else.  Gas costs $1.60 per gallon, thanks to the lousy investments made by someone to pay for the technology to extract the oil from the ground.  My wife bought new skirts for my girls for less than $3.00 per skirt.  I wonder how the person who sewed the skirt together is living. A morally pure person would play the victim, never the oppressor.  But who in America or the "west" really doesn't benefit from the way the world is arranged.  Also, I know if the show was on the other foot, the other would be the oppressor.  

Its so rich when American Jews criticize Israel and accuse Israel of genocide.  Israel's problem is that it is completely unwilling to even create a credible threat against the Palestinians.  Instead, to maintain security, they maintain a network of Palestinian informers and Jewish secret police.  Its either that or throwing themselves on the mercy of the Palestinians, in the hope that a democratic bi-national state doesn't result in their expulsion or death.  As long as the Palestinians believe they are going to win, there is no reason to believe there is going to be a two-state solution, or any good solution (from the Jewish point of view) to the conflict.  

The three purposes of a person's life

• To lift the "veil of ignorance"; to acquire wisdom, understanding and knowledge of our creator and "his" world, thru our creators conduct of the world and how he uses his various powers and characteristics.  To see what is really going on.
• To be tested and pass our tests successfully, by using all of our circumstances, means and situations as opportunities to serve G-d, in three ways: in our thoughts, in our words (and writings) and in our deeds.   
• To emulate the Angels through our development and manifestation of tolerance and self-control, not rebelling against G-d but rather bearing life's burdens with patience and intelligence.

(paraphrased from Rabbi Avigdor Miller, Chovos Halevavos shiur, Cassette 30)

Paradigm list

The different paradigms under which Israel negotiates with the Palestinians and the Palestinians negotiate with Israel make it almost impossible to come to peace terms.

As I understand it, the Palestinian paradigm is that they have a legal right to 100% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and that the descendants of any non-Jewish person who lived in Palestine prior to 1948 and who fled the fighting has a legal and human right to return to their ancestors home in Israel.  Furthermore, any peace treaty they agree to is grudging, since in reality the Jews have no right to this land and are thieves.  The Jews aren't really blood descendants of the Israelites of the Bible,  neither are they blood descendant's of the Judeans of 2,000 years ago; even if they were, Jewish claims to the land are superseded the long Arab majority presence in the land and by Islam itself.

The Israeli paradigm is that Jews have rights in all of "pre-1948 Palestine", and that while they are willing to facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank in Gaza Strip, this is for pragmatic reasons, to consolidate a peaceful, prosperous Jewish state, not because they are legally compelled to do so. Furthermore, since Jewish leaders accepted a UN partition plan in 1947 and Arab leaders didn't, and because Arab armies aggressively attacked in 1948, 1967 and 1973, and would have killed every Jewish person there if they had won, the idea that the Palestinians have any legitimate legal entitlement is seen as preposterous; there has to be some price the Palestinians have to pay for having attacked and lost.

The Palestinian approach to negotiations is that they have rights they are not willing to abandon and while they might make some concessions to get a peace treaty, they are not going to concede much, since what is rightfully theirs is rightfully theirs.  To Israel, the whole point of peace is to get something that is better and more valuable; worth trading for land captured in a defensive war in 1967.

If Israel and the Palestinians ever successfully negotiate a peace treaty, it will be because one or both sides abandon their paradigm.   It is anybody's guess what circumstances would cause one or both of the sides to change paradigms.

Who do I admire

If I could be like any other person in the world, who would I be like?  Who do I truly admire?  I'm not talking about a celebrity or public figure who I would want to be like because of the amount of money they have, but rather whose personal traits would I like to emulate?

I would like to be like somebody who is a true eved Hashem, but not someone whom other people are uncomfortable to be around.  I wish I radiated love.  I wish I had true restraint and personal control over myself, so that all of my actions were driven by avodas Hashem and I had no desire or interest in wasting time.  I would like to emulate someone who dresses well, looks good and is physically fit and healthy. 

My love would be a deep concern for the other people I interact with every day.  I would truly want the best for them, and would take action to facilitate their achivement of the best.  I would be a giver and receiver, but not a taker. 

I would be sensitive to the people around me, choosing my words carefully, and being a listener.  Yes I want kavod (honor), but I would achive honor by serving others and by not pursuing credit for things. 

I would have rock solid principles that I would never compromise, but I would be patient and accepting of life as it comes.  However, I would give up my life if I had to.  I would be a deep thinker that can see the consequences of my actions many steps down the road from where I am now. 

And I want a swimming pool for my house.  I want to spend Sundays with my family enjoying the outdoors and each others company, talking and laughing.

I keep thinking of Rabbis David Silverman and Ilan Feldman in Atlanta.  Also my Rabbi Shmuel Berkowitz.  I haven't interacted enough with Rabbi Silverman and Rabbi Feldman to know if my perceptions of them are correct.  My only hesitation with Rabbi B is that he doens't meet the requirements in the last sentence of the second paragraph.  Also, Rabbi S and Rabbi B don't have pools; I don't know about Rabbi Ilan. 

I also should list Rabbi Leib Keleman who is the teacher of my Mussar Vaad.  I admire the way he is involved with all sorts of outdoor activities and yet still is a pure servant of Hashem.     

The Jews Achilles Heal, part 2

Rabbi Motty Berger said in the name of the Chiddushei Harim and Sfas Emes the same medrash and explained that "do not approach the mountain" relates to the first two commandments.  Us Jews have trouble with "I am G-d" and "You are not!"

The question

Was the Torah given to us by Hashem, or was it made up by the Jews?  If it was made up, the authors certainly have a lot of blood on their hands.  Hitler thought that the Torah was made up by the Jews, and thought that its effect on his society was such a "disease" that every person with at least 1/4 Jewish ancestory needed to be killed to eradicate its influence.  Western (secular) society today believes the Jews made it up, but that to a certain extent (less and less each year) we need to pretend that it came from Hashem.  Most secular Jews act like they believe their (our) ancestors made it up.  They think that the more outragous and weird the culture becomes, the better it is, so they lead the charge, in many cases.  But G-d forbid when the pendulum swings the other way, and our society looks to find those who were responsible for the outragousness and weirdness.  Woe to the Jews who never deeply investigate this question. 

A Jew who believes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Torah was given by Hashem can either strive and struggle to serve Hashem, or can commit suicide, either quickly or slowly.     There is no middle ground.  If Hashem "divinely influenced" the Torah, that is another way of saying that the Jews made it up. 

Why should I have hakaras HaTov to Hashem?

Why should I have hakaras HaTov to Hashem? After all, he created me! Yes, he freed me from slavery in Egypt, but he also made me a slave in the first place. I didn’t ask to be created.


It seems to me that the world we live in presents an ideal “playing field” or “movie set” for the battle between our Yetzer HaTov or intellectual desires or “best intentions” and our Yetzer HaRah or physical or emotional desires. I would be hard pressed to say that the world is very well designed for any other purpose that I can think of. It doesn’t seem well designed for hedonism, since we quickly get bored with any particular kind of pleasures, and we often get hurt or burned. It doesn’t always reward the person who plays by the rules or puts in the most effort, although I think that effort in the right direction is often well rewarded. Striving for money…there are plenty of rich people out there who are unhappy. Depression and anxiety are very common.

However, since Hashem gave us the Torah, we can serve him no matter what situation we are in. All a person has to do is 1) know the halacha and 2) implement the will and strength to do it. There are people alive today or who were alive in the recent past who are or were like angels, following the will of Hashem with beautiful middos and assuredly not suffering from depression or anxiety.

I believe that we chose this life, or we would choose it if we had complete information. I believe that Hashem created us to benefit us by letting us “play the game” or “be in the movie”. Life is a benefit when one strives to be an eved Hashem. He has given me many benefits, advantages and blessings, from before I was born until now. I choose to have Hakaras HaTov, because I believe that Hashem has decided to benefit me by putting me in the life situations that I am in.